JUNE 
207 
The first two are only seen in the vesseFs tracks and at the 
sides ; but these gleams are seen as far as the eye can trace 
them^ in every direction : they are much more rarely ob- 
served than the former. There was a confused swell when 
I made these observations^ and some short waves ; but they 
did not break. In a voyage to the Gulf of Mexico^ I saw 
the water in those southern seas more splendidly luminous 
than I had ever observed before. It was indeed a magnifi- 
cent sights to stand in the fore part of the vessel, and watch 
her breasting the waves. The mass of water rolled from her 
bows as white as milk^ with a luminous cloudiness, studded 
with those innumerable sparks of blue light. The nebulosity 
instantly separated into sm.all masses, curdled like the clouds 
of marble, and soon subsided; but the sparkles remained. 
Sometimes, one of the brightest of these points appeared to 
burst into a small cloud of superior whiteness to the mass, 
and to be lost in the rest. Occasional flashes were seen on 
the dark surface of the surrounding sea, as some little wave 
would rise and break. The curdling of the milky appear- 
ance into clouds and masses, and its quick subsidence, were 
what I had never observed elsewhere. But how little do 
we know of the arcana of nature : this luminous property 
of the sea has doubtless attracted the attention of observant 
men in all ages, being seen on almost every shore ; and 
yet what do we know of it ? of its cause, of its nature, of its 
uses ? 
C. — The ocean is probably a world within itself ; con- 
taining thousands of productions^ that the eye of man has 
never seen. What numberless animals, shells, plants^ zoo- 
phytes, may be supposed to lie on the undisturbed bed of 
the vast sea, where the sounding line of the mariner has 
never penetrated ! How beautiful are Percival's lines on 
the tropical seas : — 
